France and Costa Rica

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Political relations

France and Costa Rica have traditionally enjoyed good relations, thanks to our converging views on many multilateral issues, including environmental protection, combating climate change, combating terrorism and corruption, and human rights. Today, Costa Rica is one of our closest partners in Latin America as can be seen in the many joint multilateral initiatives regarding the promotion of multilateralism and global issues, as well as joint organization of the upcoming UN Ocean Conference in 2024-2025.

In December 2021, Jean-Yves Le Drian made the first visit of a French Foreign Minister to Costa Rica in 40 years. He was received by President Carlos Alvarado Quesada. President Rodrigo Chaves visited France in March 2023 and met with the President Macron.

French presence

  • French community: 2,500 registered (2022)

Visits

Recent French visits to Costa Rica:

  • Visit by the Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, from 27 to 30 January 2023;
  • Visit by the Ambassador for the Poles and Maritime Issues, Olivier Poivre-d’Arvor, from 20 to 26 October 2022;
  • Visit by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on 22 and 23 December 2021;
  • Visit by the President of the Sud-Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, in February 2019;
  • Visit by the Personal Envoy of the French President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jean-Pierre Bel, during which he met with President Solis, from 11 to 13 January 2017.

Visits by Costa Rican officials to France:

  • Visit by President Rodrigo Chaves, accompanied by several ministers, including Arnoldo André Tinco, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship, from 17 to 25 March 2023;
  • Visit by President Carlos Alvarado, accompanied by several ministers including Rodolfo Solano, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship, to attend an OECD event from 30 March to 2 April 2022;
  • Meeting in Paris with the Minister of the Presidency of Costa Rica, Rodolfo E. Piza Rocafort, with the Minister of State, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, 13 March 2019;
  • Visit to Paris by President Carlos Alvarado for the Paris Peace Forum in November 2018.   

Economic relations

Costa Rica is France’s second-largest trading partner in Central America, after Panama. France’s 92nd trading partner, Costa Rica is its 118th customer, its 81st supplier and its 53rd deficit. In Latin America, Cost Rica is France’s 13th customer, 9th supplier and 4th deficit.

France’s presence is limited, with 22 French subsidiaries working in Costa Rica, employing approximately 3,000 people. However, some French companies are well represented: Total (the leading French investor), Schneider Electric (electricity distribution, process automation and building controls), Legrand (electrical equipment) and Engie. Costa Rica’s diversification of energy sources (to include geothermal and wind energy) and major development projects (transport infrastructure, introduction of electric vehicles) are a source of opportunities for our companies.      

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Costa Rica is home to headquarters of the regional cooperation scheme that drives France’s cultural, scientific and academic cooperation in Central America. The Cooperation and Cultural Action Service manages several Team France Fund projects aiming to create a network of French and Central American researchers in the area of marine sciences.

Costa Rica is the only Latin American country where learning French is compulsory in the public school system (first secondary cycle). French cooperation includes training programmes for some 1,000 French teachers working in the primary, secondary and higher education systems.

The Lycée Franco-Costaricien in San José is the only French school accredited by the Ministry for National Education and Youth. Regulated by the Agency for French Education Abroad, it had a student population of 1,087 at the start of the academic year in February 2023.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has been working in Costa Rica since April 2019 on climate and biodiversity projects and in the water and sanitation sector, by supporting the national decarbonization plan with a public policy loan. A headquarters agreement is being finalized.

In the area of science, our cooperation is mainly conducted between the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Centre for Tropical Agricultural Research and Education (CATIE) in Costa Rica. A French archaeological unit was also created in 2018.

In January 2022, Costa Rica joined the Preventing Zoonotic Disease Emergence (PREZODE )initiative, launched by France in January 2021. An agreement was signed between the Institut Pasteur and the University of Costa Rica in 2022 to enhance health cooperation.

The National University of Costa Rica and the University of Costa Rica are members of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF). In 2017, the Costa Rican Institute of Technology was the first institution to be accredited for five years by the High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES). Also, Costa Rica participates in a language assistant exchange programme led by France Education International.

An agreement on mutual recognition of qualifications and periods of higher education study was concluded on 10 November 2015.

Other cooperation

A territorial and regional bilateral cooperation framework agreement was signed in July 2020. Initiated by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, this agreement paved the way for direct relations between Costa Rican authorities, including national ones, and French local authorities, including in the area of the environment.

On 4 December 2020, the President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Council, Renaud Muselier, signed with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship, Rodolfo Solano, a cooperation agreement focusing on the fight against climate change and the environmental conservation, eco-tourism, natural parks and biodiversity, in addition to integrated water resource management and catchment area protection.

The most emblematic cooperation project “Duo Diversité” aims to build capacity and increase the sharing of best practices when it comes to eco-tourism, biodiversity conservation, protected area management and water resource management. This €2.2 million project, which is to rolled out over three years (2021-2024) is partially funded by the AFD’s French Local Authorities Financing Facility.

Relationship with the European Union

Relations between the European Union and Costa Rica are in line with the Framework Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 2014, and the EU-Central America Association Agreement, with a trade component that has been applied provisionally since 1 October 2013. This agreement binds six Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) with the European Union and its Member States. It aims to strengthen economic integration and promote sustainable development in the region. It has three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. At European level, the agreement was approved by the European Union in December 2012, but it still needs to be ratified by all of the Member States for all of its provisions to enter into force. France ratified this agreement on 14 April 2015.

In the area of cooperation, Costa Rica has been granted €14 million for 2021-2024 under the geographic pillar of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe instrument. Included by the Council of the European Union on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes on 14 February 2023, Costa Rica managed to be removed from the list on 17 October after enacting a reform of its tax regime.     

Updated: 25 January 2024

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